SEC. 2.113. LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE.
§ 2.113
The Board of Supervisors can submit policy declarations and other matters to voters for approval, and must implement approved declarations within 90 days. For initiative measures, four or more supervisors or the Mayor must submit the proposal at least 45 days before the election deadline, the Board must hold a public hearing at least 15 days before that deadline, and the election results must be placed on the ballot even if the hearing requirement is missed—though that failure will be noted in the voter information pamphlet.
The Board of Supervisors can ask San Francisco voters to approve policy statements or laws. If voters approve one, the Board has 90 days to make it happen. When someone wants to put a ballot measure directly to voters (called an initiative), they need at least four supervisors or the Mayor to sponsor it. They have to submit it 45 days before the election deadline and tell the Department of Elections right away. The Board's president assigns it to a committee, which must hold a public hearing about it at least 15 days before the deadline. Even if the Board forgets to hold the hearing, the measure still goes on the ballot, but voters will be told about the missing hearing. The person or people backing the measure can take it back anytime before the deadline.
- Complex:The section involves multiple procedural steps, cross-references, and conditional requirements (e.g., what happens if the hearing requirement is missed) that make it somewhat difficult for a layperson to follow the full process.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) The Board of Supervisors, or four or more members, may submit to the voters declarations of policy, and any matter which the Board of Supervisors is empowered to pass.
Upon approval of a declaration of policy by the voters, the Board of Supervisors shall within 90 days of such approval take such actions within their powers as shall be necessary to carry such declaration into effect. A special municipal election shall not be called with respect to a declaration of policy.
(b) In order to submit a proposed initiative measure to the voters under this section or Section 3.100(15)*, four or more members of the Board of Supervisors or the Mayor shall submit the proposed initiative to the Board of Supervisors no later than 45 days prior to the deadline for the submission of such initiatives to the Department of Elections. The proponent or proponents shall clearly identify the measure as a proposed initiative to be submitted at a specific election, and the proponent or proponents shall file a copy of the measure with the Department of Elections at the same time as the measure is submitted to the Board of Supervisors.
The President of the Board of Supervisors shall assign the measure to a committee of the Board, and the committee shall conduct a public hearing on the measure at least 15 days prior to the deadline for the submission of such initiatives to the Department of Elections.
Failure by the Board of Supervisors to hold a hearing on the measure prior to the Department of Elections' deadline for submittal of legislative or mayoral initiatives shall not prevent the Director of Elections from placing the initiative on the ballot. But the Director of Elections shall include a notice in the voter information pamphlet that the measure was not the subject of the required public hearing.
The proponent or proponents of an initiative measure may withdraw the proposed measure at any time prior to the Department of Elections' deadline for submission of such initiatives, subject to any requirements of the Municipal Elections Code or other City ordinance. If a measure is withdrawn, the Board of Supervisors is not required to conduct a hearing on the measure.
(Amended by Proposition C, Approved 11/6/2007)
* Editor's Note: Section 3.100(15) was redesignated as 3.100(16) by Proposition C, adopted at the November 2, 2010 election.